When I was reading about the growth mindset I was immediately struck by something I saw in my volunteering at CCFI's Boys and Girls club today. During "power hour" the kids are supposed to do homework or if they do not have homework do something educational. I was working with two kids on some reading words. The words were written on slips of paper that were jumbled together in a jar. Each kid would pull out a word and read it out loud and I would tell them if they were right or not and help them figure it out if they were wrong.
The little girl would pull out some words and know them right away. She looked very proud when I told her she got it right. But, whenever she did not know a word right away she immediately gave up and guessed something even though she knew it was not right. When I would tell her it was not right and move to help her sound it out she would shut down. She would answer the simple question of "what sound does this word make" incorrectly. I quickly discovered she did not know letter sounds very well and was once again throwing out guesses on most letters. I moved on to telling her the sounds of each letter and then asking her to put the sounds together, but by that point she was frustrated and embarrassed so I would just tell her the correct pronunciation and move on.
The little boy, on the other hand, would take getting a word wrong as a challenge. He would go back and sound out every letter and put the letters together in different sound combinations until it sounded like a word he knew. He would then say the new word and was often right. If he was not right I would say "not quite" and tell him which letter was wrong. He enjoyed going through all the words, both those he knew and those he did not.
I now know that these differences may have to do with the little girl having a fixed mindset and the little boy having a growth mindset. In the future I will try saying "not yet" to the little girl instead of "that's not quite right" and I will be sure to praise her when she tries to sound things out. I will also be sure to praise the little boy for his process and excitement about learning.
I am glad I read about the growth mindset today and I hope it helps not just these kids but myself as well!
